This was another week of hot, Hot, HOT weather with
temperatures averaging the mid- to high 90s. Thankfully it cools down in the
pre-dawn hours to the low 50s to give us little break in the early mornings.
Fires in Yosemite and east of Sacramento have brought smoky haze, but we’re
still enjoying the area.
Monday, as we rode our bikes around the park, we noticed
quite a few classic cars in some of the sites. Obviously the owners are here
for Hot August Nights but more about that later.
One thing that caught our
attention was a 1959 yellow Cadillac that was transformed, from the firewall
back to the fins, into a portable stage, complete with keyboard, a very loud sound system that boasts
35,000 watts of power. This trailer-mounted system uses hydraulics to elevate
and rotate the stage—all the while it’s being towed and played. It contains a
Kawai baby grand keyboard and speakers in the front section of the car. This
amazing sound stage is owned and played by singer/songwriter Bobby Freeman (not of the “Do You Wanna Dance” fame).
He said it would be unveiled to the world at Hot August Nights on Friday, July
25, in South Lake Tahoe. And, he says it will be used at Super Bowl halftime
show in either 2014 or 2015. We’ve been invited as VIPs to any of his shows.
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Bobby Freeman, as he was singing one of his songs
to us, "Since I Found You." |
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| The '59 Cadillac on the hydraulic stage. |
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| Just one of Bobby's many trailers filled with memorabilia. |
Tuesday we headed over to Incline Village to spend more time
with little Anastasia, David and Hollee. While we were gone, the RV park roads
were being resurfaced, so it was good we were gone. We attended another session at "baby school" that afternoon. Later we had dinner at David and Hollee's; I made a wild rice
casserole and salad—it was a big hit with the fam. Yum!! (The wild rice came
from Canada and from our friends Jody and Eric from the Ojibwe Indian
Reservation at Leech Lake, Minnesota.) While we were in Incline, we went to see
David’s Pilates studio and Hollee’s Isagenix office, both newly renovated and
finished. Impressive!
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| A decal on Anastasia's bedroom wall. |
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| Daddy and Anastasia |
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| Anastasia in the ball pit at baby school |
Wednesday we made another trek to Lake Tahoe, this time to
see an historic mansion, Vikingsholm, on Emerald Bay. Hollee and Anastasia went
with us.
Vikingsholm is a 38-room mansion on the shores of Emerald
Bay at the southwest corner of the lake. This “summer” home was built on 239
acres of land purchased by Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight for $250,000 in 1928. Born
of English decent but from the Chicago area, Mrs. Knight was particularly
enthralled by Nordic design…and so became Vikingsholm.
Although its foundation was laid in 1928, the mansion wasn’t
completed until 1929, due to the onset of winter. About 200 workers constructed
the building, which was built from wood and stone found at Lake Tahoe, much of
which used no nails or spikes. During the months of construction, the timbers
were hand hewn, the interior wall boards were hand planed, intricate wood
carvings were completed, and metal fixtures, such as fireplace screens, hinges
and latches, were hand forged—all at the site. Nordic design is evident
throughout the structure, all based on ideas gathered from one of her trips to
Scandinavia in 1928. She was particularly impressed with the wooden homes (some
8 centuries old!) in Lillehammer, Norway, and took particular care to reproduce
specific features she saw during her trip. She purchased many antiques for the
home during her trips to Scandinavia; those that were not available for
purchase because they were in museums were reproduced to exact detail by
skilled craftsmen, even to the aging of the wood and duplication of scratches
on the originals.
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We brought and ate a picnic lunch before we began our
decent to the mansion. This guy and 3 of his buddies
hovered above us in the pine tree, hoping for a handout. |
Friends spent many summers with Mrs. Knight at Vikingsholm,
swimming, boating, and hiking. Because the home is a 1-mile trek down a windy
road to the lake, the chauffeurs on staff brought guests up to the top of the
road so they could get their exercise by walking back down. And, what a trek it
is, especially when one has to walk the 1 mile back
up the hill. Oh, and it’s a 400+ foot elevation change, at 7,600
feet above sea level! (Where was the oxygen bottle??) Guests were expected to
dress for breakfast at 8 a.m. and dinner later in the day.
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View of Emerald Bay from on top of the hill,
before we began our 1 mile trek down to
Vikingsholm. |
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This photo and the next 3 are of the
granite cliffs above the mansion from which
much of the granite stone was mined for the home. |
Mrs. Knight’s sleeping room was built above the rest of the
mansion, with windows on 3 sides; her dressing area was below. The front
courtyard was surrounded by attached buildings housing the kitchen, sleeping
rooms for the cook and maids, the laundry, and garage area. The chauffeurs
shared a separate duplex building, located just south of the mansion.
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| Lake view of the mansion. |
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| Front courtyard |
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| Hand carved and painted front door. |
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Mrs. Knight's sleeping room above and
dressing area below. |
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| Lake side of the mansion. |
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| The back door leading to the lake; all hand carved. |
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Back courtyard area, with entrances to the kitchen
and the maids' rooms. Notice the sod roof and chimney. |
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| Notice the roof details, and the stained glass windows. |
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| 1936 Dodge |
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One of the many, many chimneys
at the mansion; each one was
different. |
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| One of the hundreds of hand forged fixtures. |
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| Ceiling details in the living room. |
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| Living room. Notice the hand painted ceiling. |
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| 3-legged chair |
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| Dining room |
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6-legged Steinway Grand Piano in the living room;
Liberace played it during one of the soirees
held at the house. |
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Reproduction of a Swedish Bride's Table, dating to 1860, similar
to a hope chest. It was reproduced down to the scratches on the top. |
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| Writing desk located in the dining room. |
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Mrs. Knight's dressing room right below her
sleeping room, which we didn't have access to. |
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| Hand carved banister |
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| This and the next 3 photos are of the guest rooms |
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| Morning room adjacent to dining room |
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| Kitchen |
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| Kitchen |
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| Maid's room |
Although Mrs. Knight is best known for Vikingsholm, she and
her husband were primary backers of Charles Lindbergh’s non-stop solo flight
across the Atlantic in 1927. Many still remember her because of her generous
contribution to youth groups in California and Nevada, and provision of
educational opportunities for innumerable young people who otherwise could not
have afforded them, and to the Christian Science church.
After the strenuous day Wednesday, we spent the day Thursday attempted to
recuperate. The walk down to Vikingsholm and back up really affected us: our
calves, thighs and hips suffered greatly—and today (Monday) we’re still feeling
some pain. I did make chocolate chip cookies, though. Yum! Dick was happy!
Friday was another “chill” day. Guess
we’re just getting old… That evening, for no apparent reason, we lost power at
about 7:30; it wasn’t restored until about midnight. I spent a good part of the
evening after losing power visiting with neighbors John and Terri from
California and Washington. They’ve just recently become full-timers so it was
good to swap stories. There are a lot of stars visible when there’s no light!
For years Dick has wanted to hit
Reno’s Hot August Nights, so we experienced a part of that on Saturday. Hot
August Nights is the largest classic car and nostalgic event in the country and
encompasses the entire region, from Reno to Carson City and South Lake Tahoe! Although
we didn’t go to Carson or Reno, we did hit South Lake Tahoe on Saturday to
wander through 60 or so restored hot rods and sexy muscle cars, giving us a
first-hand look at decades gone by. In Reno there will be more than 5,000
classic vehicles to admire and desire! Some of the cool activities will include
Show-n-Shines, drag races, controlled cruises, concerts, a swap meet, sock hop,
and a Barrett-Jackson classic car auction. Crazy! And, not to be outdone, people brought their pets, too, most sporting goggles for the occasion! These are some of our favorites.
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| 1939 Chevy |
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| Willy's Truck |
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Austen Healy with a Chevy V8 engine. RJ had
a friend in high school who had one just like this, |
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This and the next 3 photos are of a 1937 Woodie.
Notice the headliner in the next one, and the details.
on the interior doors. LOVED IT! |
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| 1934 Ford Roadster |
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| Very cool Roadster! |
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This and the next 3 photos are of a 1958 Chevy Corvette,
beautifully restored. And the color...oh, my...gorgeous! |
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1928 Ford Model A -- you wouldn't believe
the color! |
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This and the next 3 photos are of a 1974 Silver Shadow SS Rolls
with a Chevy 502 engine. Beautiful! |
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| 1949 Chevy with a sound system that is not to be believed! |
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| 1959 Harley 125cc |
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| 1951 Lincoln -- how low can you go??? |
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| 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk |
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| 1956 Chevy -- unusual paint job! |
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| Chas and Jack |
Later that day we drove back up the lake to Incline Village
to have dinner with Hollee and Anastasia. (David, a rock ‘n’ roll guy, had a
gig at June Lake, CA so he was gone for the weekend.) Hollee made chicken
tacos—Yum!! Anastasia has grown and changed so much since we’ve been here, and
we’re so enjoying our time with her. I’m sure she’ll be walking soon… Check out
this video link as she practices her ‘
raspberries’!
Sunday, oh woe is me, my bike breaks—the sprocket won’t
engage with the wheel. (It would work perfectly as a stationary bike…) Hope
Dick will be able to fix it so we can ride together again. Neighbors Neil and
Kay leave, as they bought a house in nearby Dayton, NV. Dick helped them hitch
up their pull-behind camper to a U-Haul, in which they packed a small freezer,
bicycles, and a large grill/smoker (they’d been living here 5 months—along with
their 2 very large dogs and a cat—waiting for their home to become available).
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| The Little Engine that Cold |
As we leave
you this week we thought we would share a curious sight. Seeing this scene in
our RV park made us think about the “Little Engine that Could” story. (We were
thinking maybe Ron and Kathryn could down-size from a 1-ton dually to a VW to
pull their Redwood.) Well, wouldn’t you know we received a video of a
VWpulling a 5th wheel. What fun! Maybe this would solve Dick’s back-up
issues! Ha!
That’s it for this week. We leave Friday, beginning our
20-day trip to Minnesota. We’ll be stopping in Elko, NV for one night, then on
to the Arches in Utah, Yellowstone, the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore. That’s
a lot to pack in 20 days, huh.
Hope you’re doing well; we’ll catch up with you next week.
Love ‘n’ hugs,
RJ and Gail
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